Access Case Set for Further Hearing
There is a presumption in law that where a property adjoins a highway, the landowner owns the soil up to the middle of the highway unless it can be shown that this is clearly not intended to be the case…
Bank Cleared of Liability for Losses
Money laundering legislation requires banks to freeze transactions pending clearance if there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the funds concerned in the transaction may be the proceeds of crime or connected with criminal activity. The procedure involves the filing…
Landlord’s Failure Leaves Subtenant in Place
When a lease on commercial premises comes under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA), the grounds on which the landlord may oppose the tenant’s application for a new lease when the lease expires are limited. One of the grounds…
Planning Laws and New Developments
Whether you are planning to refurbish and sell a house or to construct a whole new apartment block, almost all your plans will be governed by planning laws and any local restrictions. Planning restrictions are more stringent in conservation areas,…
Argument Over Who Pays for Repairs is Costly
Failing to settle a dispute out of court has cost a group of tenants in Sussex dear in a case decided recently. The dispute arose when a block of flats suffered water penetration. The tenants were obliged to pay for…
Business Rates on Empty Properties
Property owners will welcome a High Court ruling on an empty rates relief avoidance scheme. The court held that the temporary storage of documents occupying only a very small percentage of a warehouse's floor space was actual occupation for the…
Court ruling on rates relief avoidance scheme
The High Court has held that the temporary storage of documents occupying only 0.2% of a warehouse's floor space was actual occupation for the purposes of business rates liability. This meant that a new period of empty rates relief applied…
Deregulating listed building consents
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is consulting on ways of reducing the regulatory burden of the current Listed Building Consent system (LBC). The consultation sets out four options for changing the current system, to reduce the burdens on…
Landlord Unable To Recover Insurance Rent
The Lands Tribunal has held that a landlord was unable to recover insurance rent from the tenant because the landlord had not complied with its insurance obligations under the lease. The lease required that the landlord insure the property in…
A Smell By Any Other Name
A case brought by a group of residents who live near a tip was recently heard by the Court of Appeal. The residents complained that the smell of the tip was a nuisance that blighted the everyday enjoyment of their…